Fall Recipes: Apple Butter and Sweet Potato Pear Soup

Fall is here in full force and with it came a desire to really hunker down and create some wonderful food creations in my kitchen!

After going apple picking and also picking up some apples my parents had received from my uncle’s farm, I decided to use my apple abundance to make some highly sought after apple butter! Apple butter can be used as a sugar substitute in your favourite baking recipes, slathered on a sandwich, drizzled over oatmeal, or really in any other creative food context you can think of!!

Two autumns ago, I bought my first jar of apple butter at a local farm north of the city. This apple butter did not end up quite the same (thicker and more sticky and dense), which is expected. I didn’t want it too! Mine was a little thinner and runnier. But just as nutrition-filled and TASTY!

Apple Butter Recipe (this is SO easy)

**I got the main gist of the recipe from my FAVE vegan recipe blog, Oh She Glows!! This woman knows what she’s talking about. 🙂 But of course I adapted it to my own liking, adding more spices and cooking it for longer.

Ingredients:

-5 pounds of apples

-various spices you have in your cupboard

Method:

1. In the evening, cut up all your apples, leaving the skin on (especially if they’re organic – those non-organic guys are sprayed heavily!) Using an apple corer if you have one is brilliant.

2. Fill your slow cooker with apples until you can’t jam any more in there. Add a cinnamon stick, one whole star anise pod, and finely grated nutmeg, and a teaspoon of course salt.

3. Turn your slow cooker on low and leave it on (overnight) for 8 hours.

4. In the morning, first stir the apples, it basically looks like you have apple sauce! Remove the cinnamon stick and star anise pod and BLEND your apples in your blender, I had to do it in two batches. Blend it well on liquefy for a good amount of time.

5. Put the blended sauce back into the slow cooker for another 1.5 hours! You can leave it longer if you want it to thicken up more, but remember it will thicken up in the fridge a little.

6. Jar it! Two mason jars will fit it all.

Sweet Potato Pear Soup (thanks Rose for the inspiration!)

Ingredients:

-1 tbsp coconut oil

-1 small onion

-3 medium sweet potatoes

-3 pears

-4 cups vegetable broth, 1 cup water

-1 lime

-5 shakes of thyme and paprika each

-2 tbsp coconut milk

-salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In the melted coconut oil, sautee the onion in the bottom of your largest pot.

2. Add the chopped sweet potato and pear, let it cook for 8 mins.

3. Add paprika, thyme, and veggie broth and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until sweet potato is soft.

4. Turn off element and let it cool a little before you use your stick blender to blend the mixture. Alternatively, you can use your blender.

5. Once well blended, add coconut milk, lime juice, and salt and pepper and stir.